Niagara agencies partner to combat substance abuse

A group of Niagara County agencies is working to address the issue of substance abuse among young women.

The initiative, dubbed Project Runway, is designed to increase community awareness while offering opportunities for health-care professionals to better evaluate and treat those abusing drugs and alcohol.

“Our goal is communitywide prevention and awareness,” said Sheila Kee, COO of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, which is coordinating the initiative.

Funding comes from a three-year, $250,000 grant from the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation, which focuses much of its giving on children, adolescents and young adults struggling with mental illness, substance abuse, and intellectual and learning disabilities.

Project Runway will train health-care professionals to better recognize abuse symptoms in young women. They’ll also work with a counselor to link girls and young women to care-management services and create a referral system of community activities and alternatives, said Sarah Obot, community outreach coordinator.

Already, 43 young women have received services through treatment and participation in peer groups for girls ages 15-25. Additionally, 49 professionals have been trained – and that’s just the start.

“A lot of it is to get the parents and the children involved together,” Obot said.

That includes teaching parents ways to help keep their kids away from drugs, or simply different opportunities to keep them busy and away from the temptation.

“It’s also parenting skills, and how to help your children avoid that path through relationships with others in the community,” she said.

Young women also will make videos about drugs to post on Youtube and Twitter to reach their peers.

The program was developed based on research conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. That includes gender-specific strategies to heighten awareness and prevent drug and alcohol abuse among young women ages 14 to 24.

Research has shown that unisex prevention programs fail to influence young women.

Three-year goals include reducing substance-abuse ER visits by teens and young women by 30 percent; reducing referrals to Niagara Falls Drug Court by 44 percent; and reducing the use of drugs by pregnant women,

“Every year we’ll measure those indicators and hopefully see improvement as time goes on,” Kee said.